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eskro
Posting Freak
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i guess ATV2 at $99 will suit your needs...
just dont expect too much out of it...
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Guys,
3d video r handled good with Xbmc Live or with OPENLEC?
Thnks
Ale
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The ATV2 also has a few other great advantages over an old PC hacked together. First is size, ATV2 is tiny, about the size of your wallet. It is very low power, typically measured in milliwatts where as some old pentium 4 box may be consuming 200+ watts. You also get "instant on" performance thanks to it's fancy sleep mode you need only press a button and it will be good to go, vs a pc in sleep mode with a traditional spinning hard drive it may take up to a minute to load back up. And finally, the ATV2 does other things as well, from the main menu you can stream netflix, rent movies and tv shows, or with the 4.3 update you'll be able to sit back with your ipod/iphone/ipad (if you have one) and send your content wirelessly from the device to the TV. This is even supported by some third party apps now, and wont be long before some basic games would even work.
As an all inclusive platform, its ideal. You'll have no problem teaching family members or friends how to use it, as opposed to a dedicated PC theres always some tinkering required if something goes wrong :p
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^^ You're a little off there. My old P4 system draws under 90watts playing 1080p content and around 65watts at idle. Also, it resumes from sleep in about 3-5 seconds on an old 5400rpm IDE drive.
Yeah, the ATV2 is great when integrated with other Apple products, but Apple products are some of the most expensive devices you'll ever find for what you actually get, so that takes away if budget is an issue. I pretty much despise Apple, but I'd buy an ATV2 in a heartbeat for another room in the house besides the main TV if needed.
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well thats what i get for generalizing, I should have said my old socket 478 media center was able to draw 200w, long live the prescott 3.8F! Then again it also had a 9800 AIW and a couple 36gb raptors...a poor example and i apologize, but it is still the ATV2 is considerably lower power. But I stand by my boot and sleep times, my old box was painfully slow thanks to the various applications that had to load.
I'm a gadget freak the ATV2s integration with my other idevices is great, means when friends or family drop by and have something they "just have to show you", it's an easy process and I'm not even involved...just give them the password for airplay.
But the ATV2 is pretty well priced in particular, as all the other streaming devices from boxee, ruku, and what not are all in a similar range with similar features, the ATV2 is probably apple's only "product for the masses". I mainly use the ATV2 for the other rooms, so when I have to babysit my nephew or something like that, he has a very easy to use device that can access all my movies, tv shows, and netflix. My main HTPC will likely remain x86 exclusive for a while to come. Though...that new dual core A5 chip really makes me think the next apple TV is going to be 1080p smooth, and with dual 1ghz cortex A9 cores it'll handle most skins with ease.
